Trump signs spending deal, ending brief shutdown

USA president Donald Trump has signed a 400 billion dollar (£287 billion) budget deal that sharply boosts spending and swells the federal deficit, ending a brief federal government shutdown that took place while most Americans were sleeping.

In what amounts to an achievement these days, lawmakers limited the overnight closure to less than nine hours - the time between when agencies technically ran out of money at midnight and Trump's morning signing of the bill. Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked plans for a quick Senate vote because of his spending concerns. The deal gives appropriations committees in both houses of Congress time to craft a detailed spending plan that will fund the government through September of 2019.

"Now we have Republicans hand in hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits. Also means JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" tweeted the President.

The result: the government endured a short-term shutdown in the wee hours of the morning, though most would never feel its effects.

The Republican-led Congress on Thursday was rounding up support for a bipartisan budget bill that would put the government on track for annual deficits topping $1 trillion, a gap last seen toward the end of Obama's first term. I can't.in good faith, just look the other way because my party is now complicit in the deficits. Democrats also experienced internal divisions, with liberals upset the measures were not tied to any plans to assist the "Dreamer" immigrants, who were brought to the country illegally as children. He said again Thursday he was determined to bring an immigration bill to the floor this year  albeit only one that has President Donald Trump's blessing. And it provides $90 billion in disaster assistance for California, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But it failed to address the plight of those in limbo under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. If it is not, the result would be an actual shutdown, the second of 2018, after a three-day shutdown in January.

Republicans were sheepish about the bushels of dollars for Democratic priorities and the return next year of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

Representative Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, urged his party to kill the spending bill unless it also protected young immigrants who were brought to the US illegally as children and have been shielded under the soon-to-end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. "Must elect more Republicans in 2018 election".

That won over many Republicans, but some were furious over the $131 billion extra allocated for non-military spending, including health and infrastructure.

"To increase domestic spending and raise the debt ceiling was coupling two very bad policy decisions and with no reforms tied to it". There's also $16 billion to renew a slew of expired tax breaks that Congress seems unable to kill.